HAHIRA — Valwood (4-3) welcomed the Tiftarea Academy Panthers (5-5) to Browning Field on Tuesday night. Tiftarea won, 4-1, in the GIAA AAA region opener for both teams.
Eighth grader Camden Crump took the mound for the Valiants. Valwood will have a chance at revenge Friday in a return trip to Chula.
1st Inning
In the top of the 1st, the Panthers struck early, taking a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the 1st, the Valiants looked to answer back after Dalton Smith would tallied a single with one out. During the next at-bat, Smith stole second, giving Conner Hutto a chance to tie the game. Hutto flew out and Smith was caught trying to take third after tagging up.
2nd Inning
With two outs in the top of the second, the Panthers were able to get a runner on base after drawing a walk. Later the runner stole second and third, threatening to add to their 1-0 lead. After drawing another walk, the Panthers now had runners on both corners. After a flyout by Tiftarea, the Valiants escaped, still down a run.
After a flyout by Dallas Hatfield to start the bottom of the second, Triston White drew a walk to get to first base. White tagged up on a flyout by Chase Helfter. After Dustin Gibbs was hit by a pitch, Valwood loaded the bases, but Tiftarea got a grounder to end the inning.
3rd Inning
Crump had an easy top of the third, throwing four total pitches against three batters.
Jack Drew tallied the second Valiants hit of the game on a single up the middle. He moved to second on a fielder’s choice by Conner Hutto. With two outs, Hatfield tied the game 1-1 on a hit.
4th Inning
Crump got a hit, but Valwood was unable to gain further ground.
5th Inning
After the Panthers pushed their lead to 2-1 in the top of the 5th inning, Crump’s night was done, giving the ball to Jake Goff with one out and runners at second and third. To close out the top half of the inning, Goff struck out the next two Panther hitters, keeping the Valiants within one.
To start the bottom of the fifth, Smith looked to tie the game back up for the Valiants, hitting a hard double early in the count. After a Jack Drew ground out moved Smith to third at the next at-bat, the Panthers pitcher would escape the inning, striking out the next two Valiant hitters.
6th Inning
A hit batsman helped the Panthers score their third run, Tiftarea scoring on a wild pitch.
Helfer was hit by a pitch, but Tiftarea was able to throw out a courtesy runner attempting to steal.
7th Inning
The Panthers pushed their lead to 4-1 on a pair of wild pitches. Valwood was unable to reach base in their last at-bat.
Valwood fell to 4-4 (0-1) after losing to Tiftarea 4-1.
The Valiants finished with four hits, with Hatfield tallying the lone run on an RBI by Jack Drew. Valwood stole three bases, two by White and the other from Smith.
Crump struck out seven, giving up four hits and two runs on 79 pitches.
The Valiants finished with 4 hits, with #5 Dallas Hatfield tallying the lone run on an RBI (Jack Drew). Valwood stole 3 bases with Triston White grabbing 2 and Dalton Smith stealing 1. Camden Crump led all Valwood pitchers with 7 strikeouts, while giving up 4 hits, 2 runs, and 2 walks on 79 pitches.
Valwood returns home on Thursday, March 21st, as they welcome the Aucilla Christian Warriors to Browning Field.